Beneath the Clouds
by Le Diable
Summary: Shortly after the Bladebreaker's success at the World Championships in Russia, they find themselves as part of a group being sent to a short rehab course in Japan's wilderness for supposed 'offensive behaviour'. With beyblade use restricted and rivals being put under one roof, unlikely bonds are made under the cover of nightfall. Multiple pairing, slash.


**This story takes place after the World Championships in Russia. I'm not sure of the specific ages of the characters, but I'm going to write them as mid-teens (as in from 15-17). This story is not sexually explicit but does contain strong adult themes, slash/homosexual relationships, very coarse language, and violence. Hence the M rating. **

**I hope you enjoy.**

**/**

**Chapter One**

"This is the most retarded thing I've ever heard of," Tyson mumbled, scuffing the toe of his trainers along the dusty gravel.

"Tyson," Kenny said lowly, from his right. "This is for your benefit more than the rest of us."

"Like hell it is!" Tyson exclaimed. "I just _won_, Chief, we should be throwing a goddamn party–"

"What! We've already had like five of them!"

"– Not stuck here in the middle of nowhere, for a whole 6 months, for '_behavioural training'_!" Tyson snapped, completely ignoring Max's exclamation. "This sucks ass!"

"I think it was due to nature of your little 'parties' that put _us_ here in the first place!" Kenny retorted. He was sitting cross-legged on the gravelly ground, Dizzi open in his lap, typing away as he spoke. "We didn't have to be here, you know. Honestly, I couldn't tell you why you thought it'd be a good idea to involve _alcohol_."

"Don't be so lame. Alcohol makes a good party."

It was a warm Sunday evening, which the Bladebreakers could certainly appreciate as after having travelled a couple of hundred miles to get to their location, they found it was empty and the doors were locked. It was a large, cold looking building with a large, lifeless gravel driveway where the five teenage boys were currently sat without any sort of idea what to do. One of them, dressed in traditional Chinese clothing, lifted his head at Tyson's last remark, and snorted loudly.

"Tyson, we had to take you and Max to the hospital... _three times_!"

"Ray, not you too dude!"

"Nah, it was actually really fun," Ray said with a grin. Then he laughed. "That strip-tease you did on top of the dinner table was actually the most hilarious thing I've ever seen."

Tyson groaned loudly and put his face in his hands. "You should've _told_ me my dad was there!"

Kenny sniffed unceremoniously from the ground as Max echoed Ray's laughter. The fifth boy, perhaps a couple of years older than the others, kept his head bowed and eyes lazily shut throughout the whole exchange. The strange blue paint that adorned his face was hued purple by the setting sun, descending below the black silhouette of Mt Fuji which loomed across the otherwise flat horizon.

"I hope we're not stuck out here all night," Ray said suddenly. The coach that had brought them there was driven by a rather grumpy looking female conductor, who abruptly reversed and disappeared down the road the very second their last bag had left the hold.

"Yes, that's true," said Tyson, fighting a smirk. "We may have to all cuddle together for warmth."

Max sniggered. Kenny visibly shuddered.

"You say that now – we may actually have to. It gets pretty cold out here I imagine."

"You actually think we're going to do that?" Tyson snorted. "Didn't think you'd be interested in me, Ray – I don't have big tits or pink hair."

Ray frowned, but didn't reply.

"The All-Stars should be here soon," Max piped up.

"Great, even more people to add to our massive gay orgy tonight."

"Don't be so crude, Tyson."

"OK, Mom."

"Emily's a girl anyway."

"Yeah – _no thanks_!"

"I don't even think Emily is coming anyway. It's just Michael and Eddy right?"

"Don't know, man. They might all have to come."

"Steve definitely isn't." Max said darkly.

"Why not?"

"Well, when my mom told him he had to do this, he told her to...well..."

"What?"

Max lowered his voice to a whisper. "To go fuck herself."

Tyson roared with laughter. "So did he get kicked off the team then? Ha ha, get it? _Kicked off_ _the team_!"

Kenny shook his head, speaking over the top of Tyson's raucous laughter. "I just don't know how everyone ended up in this situation. I thought we were all quite sensible people. I suppose that just shows there's always more to somebody than just their beyblade."

"I don't think there's any point in writing people off like that just because they made a mistake," said Ray.

"It completely upends the reputation, not just of BBA but of the sport itself!" Kenny closed his laptop and sighed. "Mr Dickinson was furious..."

"It's their personal lives," argued Ray. "The BBA has nothing to do with it. It's not like they were getting high before every match."

"To be fair," Max said, "I did see them go into the locker room bathrooms together sometimes and they would act all weird afterwards." He paused. "Gosh, never even considered it back then."

He paused again. "They would smell really weird too."

"Just by the way," said Tyson dryly. "It's because he's a rugby player. Rugby players kick balls. Kicked _off_ the team – that was the joke!"

"It's American football, Tyson."

"Whatever, Max. I agree with him anyway."

"_What_?!"

"If your mom wasn't such a bitch we wouldn't even be here!"

"It wasn't Max's mom who made you steal your brother's tequila, Tyson!"

As the three bickered between themselves, Ray turned towards their silent companion, who had maintained the same constant, cold composure; arms folded, leaning against the wall of the building, not looking once in their direction.

"Should we call someone, Kai?" he asked him. "We have been out here for over two hours, and it's going to be dark really soon..."

A pair of piercing mahogany coloured eyes snapped open. "Do you have a phone?"

"Of course I don't. I'm just saying maybe we should do something..."

"If you want to try and walk back to Tokyo, be my guest."

With a prickling of annoyance, Ray turned away again without answering. Their team captain had always been snappy and unfriendly. With an air of superiority, he saw himself above socialising with his other team members, but it had been particularly prevalent recently, since the World Championship finals in Russia. Tyson had noticed too, but had brushed it off as lingering embarrassment he probably felt on losing to the big blond Russian guy whose name they had forgotten. Kai didn't like losing, sure, but Ray had the feeling it seemed to run deeper than that. The Abbey in Moscow had been a strange, dark place. And Kai had been on edge the minute their plane had landed on Russian soil.

They were back in Japan now, but a brand new problem had been waiting for them in arrivals. Less than a week after their triumph over the Demolition Boys, the so-called 'drug scandal' had broken out on the front pages of newspapers all over the world. "**Consumption of illegal substances by Beyblade minors**", "**Drugs taken before BBA Tournament matches**", and "**Children see marijuana-smoking Beyblade stars as 'idols' – degradation of our youth" **were some of the lovely headlines beaming from shop windows and street vendors. It was on the news every day.

Of course, it had all been blown widely out of proportion. Michael and Eddy hadn't been in contact with anyone in the team other than Max, who informed them that the Americans were sorry they had implicated not just the All-Stars, but the BBA and other beybladers in general. They had scoffed. It wasn't a big deal what they had done, and that no one actually cared except for tabloid paper-writers, as Tyson called them. After all, they had spent most of their time laughing at the paparazzi shots of themselves in apparent states of drug induced delusion, which included one of Tyson's eyes rolling into the back of his head, and a big blown up photograph of Ray's feline pupils almost completely dilated (something which probably looked bad to others, but was completely natural for him). But it wasn't nice at all having to deal with Judy's tears as she told them the BBA's only option was to show the media they were adequately fighting their 'drug problems' by putting them into behavioural courses for six months (although she may also have been influenced by having to collect her completely intoxicated teenage son from the hospital three times in four days). That, or the BBA would probably lose a great deal of media sponsors, and their careers as Beybladers were over.

Therefore, instead of boarding a very welcome plane back to China after their celebrations, he found himself stuck on an old rundown coach on its way out into the wilderness of Chubu. It all seemed so incredibly unnecessary.

"When are the All-Stars even getting here?" grumbled Tyson. His stomach grumbled too. "I'm _starving_ man."

"Their plane got here in the morning so soon, I guess," Max said. Then he added, "I'm pretty hungry too. But this place seems completely inhabited, so I don't think there's going to be any food inside. I hope my Mom brings plenty of stuff."

"I hope she brings a Pizza Hut."

Ray's stomach growled.

"Damn it," he muttered. "Now I'm hungry too."

"I'll give you a slice of my pizza, Ray."

Ray surveyed the surroundings of the institute. If the All-Stars didn't show up soon, they'd be stuck outside all night, not just in the freezing cold, but without food or water. Having been raised in rural China, where it was impossible to find a Pizza Hut or a Wal-Mart within 1000 miles, he knew how to self-sustain himself, and maybe others, using only what nature provided.

But this place... was like a wilderness. All he could see in this dimmed sunset was the stretch of gravel into infinity, peppered here and there by a few miserable, half-dead trees. Somewhere, in the distance, his feline vision could pick out the edge of a forest, but the trees in sight were so thin and naked they were like toothpicks stuck into the ground. There was barely any noise either, just the sound of Tyson's voice nattering on, and a strange grumbling sound which he suspected might be somebody's stomach. But it was getting louder and louder...

"Incoming!"

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," muttered Tyson, scrabbling to his feet and squinting over at the road. "What are they going to give us with that? Cans of cat food?"

There were four vehicles advancing down the road towards them. The first was a RV of sorts which completely shoved their own rundown coach into the middle ages. It was black and streamline and completely inappropriate for delivering supposed 'delinquents' to rehab. Behind that was a slim red sports car. There was then a rather small white van, to the dismay of Tyson, stamped with 'Kobayashi catering services' and bringing up the rear, another, rather less spectacular coach.

"We got ourselves a convoy!" yodelled Max, elbowing his disheartened friend in the side.

The RV pulled up, ripping up half of the gravelled drive as it did so. After a few moments, the doors slid open and the All-Stars captain and resident baseball player Michael stepped out as if he owned the place. Eddy trudged out after him, still so tall and skinny; he hovered beside Michael looking more like a long creeping vine than a human being. The former scanned the horizon, punching his hand into his palm, and when his eyes rested on the Bladebreakers, he burst out laughing.

"Oh man, you guys must be _so_ fucking pissed off!"

Tyson narrowed his eyes. "We're out here because of you, you twat."

"Exactly my point, shit-for-brains. Bet you kiddies have never touched the stuff in your life."

Tyson blustered. "I drank a whole bottle of tequila!"

The door of the sports car opened before Michael had a chance to reply. Max bounced forwards with a grin and hugged his mother – the evil, insidious woman who had forced all of the unsuspecting Bladebreakers into this bollocks situation in the first place. Judy ruffled her hand through her son's hair and nodded in greeting to the rest of the players.

"Hope you boys are feeling OK."

"Yes, Judy," piped up Kenny, who had hung back bristling at the exchange between Michael and Tyson. He seemed relieved that an authoritarian figure had arrived. And things could only get better for the Chief, as the second coach's doors swung open and from it descended a large group of extremely plain studious looking adults dressed in identical white coats.

"This is the team of invigilators," informed Judy, gesturing to them. "They'll take classes, supervise activities and so forth. I can't stay here with you unfortunately, so I trust them to act in my stead. Trevor, will you come here please."

The plainest looking man in the group, scrawny and square-headed with a pair of small rectangular glasses, came forward and stood behind Judy.

"This is Trevor," she explained. "He'll be the 'captain' of the team. If you have any questions or any issues or anything, he's the man to ask."

Trevor opened his mouth, presumably to say something, but Tyson cut him off immediately.

"Can we have dinner now?" he asked loudly, over the rumbling in his stomach. The Kobayashi Catering Service van had opened the doors to the centre, and three men were starting to unloading various boxes and packages and disappearing inside with them.

"I'm going to do a quick roll call first, to make sure everyone's here," Judy produced a clip-board from the inside of her white lab coat and starting running through names. "Max, you're here."

"Yes Mom."

"Tyson Granger?"

"Here ma'am," called Tyson, grinning.

"Kai Hiwa...Hiwatari?"

Kai gave a curt nod, and didn't even flinch as Judy mispronounced his surname.

"Ray Kon?"

"Here."

"Kenneth Higginson-Hood?"

"Here ma'am," answered Kenny sincerely, glaring sideways at Tyson as the latter snorted with laughter at his full name.

"And Michael and Eddy, you're both here," she mumbled, ticking off their names, running her eyes up and down the list a few times before stowing it away inside her coat again. Trevor darted forward and mumbled something into her ear. Judy frowned and shook her head. "No Trevor, that's not until later tonight, don't you worry about it. Alright boys, if you'd just like to follow me inside the centre."

Trevor muttered something about not being worried, but once again Tyson barged past and spoke over the top of him. To add insult to injury, the poor man was nearly knocked off his feet.

"What have we got for dinner tonight then?" he asked. "I'm _starving_. I'm really in the mood for a pizza, or a cheeseburger with fries and ketchup."

"Don't expect a banquet fit for the World Beyblade Champion," Judy smiled. "It's just the basics I'm afraid. The canteen staff will be arriving first thing tomorrow morning so from then on you can have your hot dinners. Tonight you'll have to make do with ready-to-eat stuff; I don't even really know what there is... "

Judy didn't really seem all that fussed. She signed for the delivery and clicked up the steps without another word, her son clamped tight to her side. Tyson hung back and glanced round at Chief.

"OK, so... what is for dinner then?"

"Do you ever stop thinking about food?" Michael scowled. He punched his fist into his hand again. Ray suspected his ever-present-not-anymore baseball glove had been confiscated.

"Shut the hell up, man."

The pair bickered right up into the centre. Eddy nodded tiredly at Ray and slid up the stairs like a sleepy snake behind them. Ray turned and met Kai's eye.

"May as well get this over with."

Kai shrugged one shoulder and the pair of them advanced up the steps and into the main reception area of the building which lead on to the entrance hall. It had a small, dingy, cold looking interior – not much different from the exterior – and everything was grey and looked damp. There were 6 sets of tables in two rows of three across the room, and along the back wall a small canteen of sorts had been set up.

"The main hall," Judy called out to them, "is where most classes and tutorials will be held. It is also the dining hall and assembly room."

"Assembly room?" asked Michael, raising his eyebrows. He had removed his cap and they could see he had had his russet-red hair shaved short. It didn't suit him at all.

"Every morning we'll assemble for announcements, roll call, and prayer," Judy explained. "I expect everyone to show up. If not, there will unfortunately have to be consequences."

"Such as?"

"Isolated lunch breaks, additional classes – whatever punishment the individual invigilator thinks is appropriate, they have the authority to give it to you."

Michael whispered something to Eddy and the pair of them snickered.

"And that applies to _any_ situation. You know why you are all here, I won't go into it again, there'll be an assembly about it tomorrow morning, and there is an additional set of rules that you all must abide by to keep these classes organised, professional and safe."

"Classes?" echoed Tyson. "So basically, we're back in _school_?"

"I'd prefer it if you thought of it that way," said Judy with a sad smile. "Most of you, if not all of you, gave up school for Beyblade – the press is naming it as one of the main factors behind, well, this... It'll make it more fun for you anyway."

Tyson scoffed in reply. He turned to Max and muttered, "Your mum _is _a bitch."

"After assembly the first classes will begin. There are six subjects; mathematics, English, science, religious education, civilised studies and P.E. Monday to Friday you will have 9 35-minute classes, split by a recreational break at 11:15 and lunch break at 12:55. You will sit all your classes together." She paused. "Please take these classes seriously – it is not up to me whether you pass or fail this term. The invigilators led by Trevor will fax monthly test and behavioural reports to me but your progress and succession of the programme will be decided by the BBA.

"Saturday is for additional games. We've tried to include a diverse and varied range of sports activities that you can get involved in and enjoy." She began reading down a list. "We have soccer, football, tennis, handball, ping pong, cross country, cricket..."

Only Kenny seemed to be listening intently, his head nodding incessantly. Tyson was leaning back and forth on the balls of his feet, shooting annoyed glances over at Michael and Eddy, who were merely staring bored at the linoleum floor. When Ray looked at Kai however, he was watching Judy intensely, his eyes narrowed. Ray knew exactly why, because it had occurred to him too.

"Excuse me," he asked, "what about training?"

Judy hesitated, and then pretended she hadn't heard him. "Pardon?"

"Beyblade training," repeated Ray. "Will there be certain days a week dedicated to building our beyblade skills?"

"I'm afraid..." Judy started. "Well, the BBA has requested that the programme concentrates solely on improving your education and social skills as opposed to... well, we know that each of you is a very capable Beyblader–"

"We're not going to be able to Beyblade?" demanded Tyson. "That's crap! Our beyblades are far more important that some stupid school grades!"

"Oh shut up, Granger," drawled Michael, who had obviously already known about and accepted the Beyblade ban. "It's not the end of the goddamn world."

Tyson ignored him. "Well you can't stop me and Dragoon, we'll practise all night and any other time we can."

"I'm afraid," said Judy again, but much firmer, "that in that case your beyblades would have to be confiscated and returned to you at the end of the programme. You always have your Sunday to practise, as long as there is no use of bit beasts. The BBA doesn't want to encourage any sort of activity that could result in, uh, violence or personal injury."

To Ray's great embarrassment, Judy looked straight over at him. He self-consciously pulled his sleeves a little lower down his arms, covering the bandages criss-crossing his still-healing skin.

"We're not going to–"

"Be quiet." Every head turned to Kai, the latter's dark eyes fixed on his teammate with no shortage of irritation. Tyson, never all that fazed by his captain, merely groaned and scuffed the toe of his trainer on the floor, leaving a big dirty scrape on the linoleum. Max put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Tyson; we have the Sunday, just like Mom said."

"Yeah, sounds great, won't see Dragoon for like 6 months."

There was a twinge in Ray's chest. In his pocket, he closed his hand around Drigger, feeling the little bolt of energy that shot through his body at their touch. Judy would never understand the bond between bit beast and blader, especially the strengthened connection between Ray and his own since the World Championship final. They were like two halves of a whole. And since the mass theft of bit-beasts at the hands of Kai and the Demolition Boys, every blader was on heightened guard over their beyblades.

"I'll show you the dormitories," said Judy, her eyes darting warily between Tyson and Kai.

"We currently have 3 beds in each room," she announced as she brought them round to an even colder, darker wing of the building. One of the 'dormitories' was opened and shown to them as a typical example of the rest. The first thing that came to Ray's mind was 'prison cell' and the second was 'those beds are _so_ puny!' – until he realised that it had come out of Tyson's mouth.

"Seriously," Tyson went on. "I'm a growing boy, how am I going to be able to squeeze myself into a bed the size of a phone?"

"Lose some weight, maybe?" scoffed Michael from behind him.

"We've organised which three of you will be sharing a dormitory – that is, the three-bedded rooms and the communal bathroom which is just next door," said Judy before Tyson could reply. "We have the two other dormitories on separate floors to prevent any, uh, late night slumber parties." She winked and laughed. Someone forced a laugh in return. "We have arranged you all completely by random. In this dormitory, G4, we have Tyson, Kenny and Michael."

Ray coughed back a laugh. Almost simultaneously, the three boys' faces had fallen into expressions of sheer dismay.

"Upstairs, on the first floor, I've put Max, Ray and Eddy. Does that sound OK, Maxie?"

"Yes Mom!"

Ray stopped to ponder whether Judy's placing of her son amongst possibly the quietest, most chilled personalities was really left to 'random'.

"And then Kai, you're on the second floor dormitories by yourself tonight."

Kai didn't react to the news.

"How come Kai gets his own dorm?" Michael huffed.

Judy didn't reply. "It's getting late," she said, checking her watch. "I think you boys are due some dinner."

"Sounds good to me," said Tyson, his face brightening up like a light bulb.

**/**

Tyson's excitement hadn't lasted long, once the plates of food were set down on the table. Judy's idea of ready-made dinners consisted of a spoonful of cold, dry couscous which had no flavour whatsoever, a dollop of even colder, hard potatoes in a vile vinegar-like sauce, and some carrots and peas.

The beyblade World Champion proclaimed that the dish was "completely gross, ewww!", but finished it off anyway and got seconds. There was mostly silence around the table, broken by some murmurings between Michael and Eddy, and a bit of chitchat between Max and the Anti-Christ, sorry, Judy.

It was beginning to hit Ray, more so when they were brought to their dormitories and told they would be 'under surveillance' to prevent any late night wandering around the facility. Hit him that he would be wasting six long months of his life in this dump, under rehabilitation for something he didn't even do. The white walls seemed to hold him in, compressing him into this tiny little room, on this tiny metal bed, his bag shoved underneath, the blankets thin and the mattress hard.

He closed his eyes and thought about China, the trees that seemed to stretch for miles up into the sky, the rolling clouds and the sound of mountains.

His eyes opened when Judy burst into the room without knocking and beckoned to her son. The lack of reaction from Eddy who was lying across his bed in nothing but a pair of thin, clingy briefs, told Ray this was something that was expected. Or that Eddy just didn't give a crap if the BBA's top scientist saw him near enough to naked.

He changed quickly into his simple black pjamas, a vest top and drawstring pants, before Judy had a chance to barge in again while he was undressing. He slid under his covers and turned to face the back wall, away from where his roommates would be able to see him sleeping.

"G'night, man."

Ray was surprised. "Goodnight, Eddy."

The sheets felt damp to him. The air was cold. Somewhere in the depths of the building, someone had turned on an old boiler. It clinked and clanked in the pipework; keeping him awake long after Max returned sniffling and plunged the room into darkness at the flick of a switch.

As Ray drifted in and out of sleep throughout the length of the night, he was vaguely aware of other sounds that crawled into their tiny room. Was that a crunch on the gravel? Could he hear footsteps and murmuring? Was it just the invigilators on night-watch or did it sound like something more? Something being scraped across the dormitory above them – a loud clang – a voice spitting obscenities... but Kai was up there alone, wasn't he?

Upon awaking the next morning, Ray couldn't remember anything about the mysterious sounds that had crept around the complex beneath the cover of nightfall.

**/Chapter One**

* * *

Next chapter: What sort of surprises will be awaiting the two teams when they arrive for breakfast?

P.S About Kenny's full name, I just made it up.

Thank you for reading, please review!


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